Best and worst from Michigan's loss to Texas

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Tenth-ranked Michigan Wolverines football fell to 1-1 on the 2024 season with a 31-12 loss to No. 3 Texas. Here are the best and worst from the game.

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Player of the game

Texas junior quarterback Quinn Ewers made a bunch of plays in The Big House, just like he had planned. He was wearing burnt orange and white, though, not scarlet and gray, the colors of his first school, chief Michigan rival Ohio State.

Ewers finished 24-of-36 passing with 3 touchdowns. Along with his receivers, he created 7 passing plays of 15-plus yards, with those instances accounting for 159 of Ewers’ 246 passing yards on the day.

It was big play after big play, right when Texas needed it. The Longhorns were stopped on their first drive, settling for a 43-yard field goal attempt that was missed, but scored on four straight possessions to build a 24-3 halftime lead.

If Michigan could have completely flipped the script in the second half and come back to win, it would’ve tied the Wolverines’ largest comeback ever. That came at Minnesota in 2003, against a solid squad that finished with 10 wins, but not a national title contender, which is what Texas appears to be in 2024.

Ewers and Co. must have felt quite comfortable in the locker room at halftime. Despite putting up only 7 points in the final two quarters, Texas won comfortably.

Biggest disappointment

Michigan Stadium, which held 111,170 fans Saturday, was absolutely rocking early. Texas decided to receive after winning the coin toss, and the Wolverine faithful brought the noise on the first drive.

Texas picked up three third-down conversions, but the missed field goal was a victory for a Michigan defense that is willing to bend as long as it doesn’t break and knew it was going against an elite attack with an experienced quarterback.

Then Texas proceeded to pull a rabbit out of its hat on third down all afternoon, going 8-of-10 in the first half and 10-of-16 for the game. That deflated and tired out the Michigan defense, in addition to the yards and points those conversions led to.

Third downs were the story for the Michigan offense, too, but for all the wrong reasons. The Wolverines went 3-for-12 on third down, 1-for-5 in the first half. They ran only 21 first-half plays.

Toughest to stop

Texas tight end Gunnar Helm had just 14 catches for 192 yards last season, when he was in the shadow of stud Ja’Tavion Sanders, who racked up 682 yards. Consider Saturday afternoon at the largest stadium in the nation his breakout game.

Helm reeled in 7 catches for 98 yards and a score, with his touchdown putting Texas on the board and providing an early first-quarter lead. The 6-foot-5, 250-pounder caught at least 1 pass on four different scoring drives. He had 3 grabs of 20-plus yards.

While Ewers was able to push the ball down field on several occasions, the missed tackles that led to yards after the catch really frustrated Michigan. Texas had 135 of its 246 receiving yards come after the catch, including 45 from Helm and 47 from running back Jaydon Blue, who had 6 receptions.

Michigan is a fast, aggressive defense. True. But Texas head coach and play-caller Steve Sarkisian used that aggressiveness against the Wolverines by getting his players in space.

Big swing

Facing third-and-11 on its 38-yard line, Michigan went to one of its most reliable outlets in recent years: the tight end. The Wolverines have just the tight end to run it, too, so long as the opposing defense isn’t paying too much attention to big No. 18, Colston Loveland.

It was open, Loveland made the catch, tried to tuck the ball and … just dropped it — an inexplicable, uncharacteristic mistake. Texas pounced on it and took over.

Loveland had green grass in front of him, and it’s safe to assume the Wolverines would’ve had a great chance to at least get a field goal out of the drive, when Texas was up 17-3.

The Longhorns, though, capitalized off of a short field for the second time on the day, going up 24-3.

One drop of the ball may have been a 10-plus-point swing.

Texas dictated the terms

Get ahead, stay ahead, control the ball, unleash the pass rush, suffocate the life out of the opponent … send them packing or take a happy flight home, depending on location.

That has been Michigan’s formula in recent seasons, and it’s been massively successful, with 41 wins in a 44-game stretch from 2021 to last week.

But Texas used that blueprint against Michigan in its own house. The Longhorns started fast, tired out the U-M defense, ran the ball to the tune of 143 yards and made Michigan throw.

Michigan’s MVP so far

How lackluster has Michigan’s offense been? Consider this: Junior kicker Dominic Zvada, the team’s leading scorer, has attempted (and made) 5 field goals and only 3 extra points this season.

Last year, for context, the Wolverines’ kicker, James Turner, tried 21 field goals and 66 extra points. That ratio is more like it, and was indicative of Michigan having an efficient offense.

Taking the offense out of it, Zvada is an absolute weapon and has been the Wolverines’ most impressive player this season. There’s no drama on any of his kicks, including the long ones. He made two from 50-plus last week and a 52-yarder to go along with his 37-yarder versus Texas.

Finally …

Michigan fans didn’t have much to cheer about after a certain point, and while it was too little, too late, the Wolverines did score a touchdown. Senior quarterback Davis Warren scrambled and threw downfield, connecting for a 31-yard touchdown strike to sophomore Semaj Morgan, U-M’s first wide receiver to score this year.

After review, a touchdown is confirmed for @UMichFootball 〽️ pic.twitter.com/qs5YTKJbQO

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 7, 2024

What Michigan can’t have

Turnovers are a non-starter. No matter the formula, they kill a college football team, especially one that is struggling to create big plays and sustain drives offensively. Matters get even worse when the defense is on the field too much, and then they’re asked to get back out there with a short field behind them.

Warren threw 2 interceptions, and Loveland lost a fumble. The first pick was a batted pass intended for junior wideout Tyler Morris, and the second came on a miscommunication when Loveland was supposed to stop his route but kept running.

Michigan named Warren the starter mid-week before the opener. He’s had a week-and-a-half knowing he’s the guy and taking all the first-team reps. Some of it is understandable, but when Texas comes rolling in for a Week 2 clash, the Wolverines couldn’t afford to be this behind the curve offensively. But they are, and now they’re 1-1.

Streaks snapped

Michigan had won 23 straight home games heading in. The Wolverines, who dropped three outings at The Big House in front of limited spectators in 2020, hadn’t lost in the venue with fans in the stands since 2019. The world was a much different place back then.

Michigan had come out on top in 28 consecutive regular-season tilts entering Saturday.

It’s been zero days since something went wrong. It’s time to build some new streaks.